Kyle Dear, a 22-year-old Black / African American male from Shelton, Connecticut, was fatally shot on the evening of June 13, 2022. The incident occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. in Bridgeport's P.T. Barnum Housing Complex, where police responded to alerts from the city's ShotSpotter system and phone calls reporting a person had been shot. Upon their arrival between buildings 10 and 11, officers and paramedics discovered Dear on the ground, having sustained numerous gunshot wounds.
Despite the efforts of medics, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The subsequent investigation by the Bridgeport Police Department's homicide squad led them to 19-year-old Amheir Noel, a resident of the same housing complex where the shooting took place. Investigators determined that the shooting was an act of retaliation. Noel claimed that friends of Dear had previously robbed and pistol-whipped him. On June 22, 2022, members of the police department's gang task force arrested Noel in Milford on unrelated charges. During a post-arrest interview, Noel confessed to the shooting of Kyle Dear.
Following his confession, Amheir Noel was charged with murder and carrying a pistol without a permit. At the time of the homicide, Noel was reportedly out on bond for prior gun charges dating back to March 2021. In October 2023, Noel entered a guilty plea to the charges of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm and possession of a large-capacity magazine. Dear's mother expressed her profound grief and dissatisfaction with the plea deal during the court proceedings. On December 8, 2023, a judge sentenced Noel to a term of 40 years in prison, which will be suspended after he serves 25 years, followed by five years of probation.
